The subject for this [presentation] is the Guru Yoga [for the Four Sessions] by Karmapa Mikyo Dorje. If we look at the tradition [of the teachings] of the Buddha, we [find] that he predicted that the Karmapa would appear in the future. The meaning of [the name] "Karmapa" is 'buddha activity". "Buddha activity" can be interpreted in many different ways, such as continually spreading or carrying on the activity of the Buddha in the future and guiding sentient beings.

The Karmapa is the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Karma Thinley presents the biographies of all the Karmapas, based on his translations from numerous Tibetan sources. These biographies are not only histories of the training and teaching of these great teachers; they are also inspirational texts used to cultivate devotion in the practitioner.

Karmapa the Sacred Prophecy-While visiting Karma Monastery in Nangchen, Eastern Tibet, the great nineteenth century master Chogyur Dechen Lingpa was granted a prophetic vision of twenty-one incarnations of Karmapa, the supreme head of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Chogyur Lingpa described his vision in detail to Karmai Khenchen Rinchen Tarjay, Supreme Abbot of Karma Monastery, who painted a representation of the prophecy on silk. Disciples of Chogjur Lingpa committed his oral description of the vision to writing, in a text later printed in woodblock at the renowned monastery of Mindroling.